On Monday it was pouring in Austin so Justin and I split a cab from our hotel to the convention center. It was $3.25. Two people can barely sit down in a cab in Chicago for that much! That morning I saw a panel called “Hardware Mashups: Introducing the Long Tail of Gadgets.” I wasn’t thrilled with too many of the panels on Monday, but John and Justin seemed interested in the panel, so I tagged along.

For lunch we decided to go to Schlotzsky’s Deli since all week we’d been talking about how much we liked it but how all the ones at home we used to go to closed. For some reason Schlotzsky’s is still in abundance in Texas. I went to look up a location I remembered from the last time I was in Austin, at about Congress and 6th. I went to the Schlotzsky’s site, but JZ convinced me that I should just use Google Maps. Google Maps confirmed the location, so we headed out. But, ruh roh. Still pouring… and Zappos to the rescue. This was probably the smartest schwag of the entire SXSW event: branded disposable rain ponchos. After snagging ponchos, we headed out to eat.

Matt in his Zappos Poncho, Austin, TX

So, we get to Congress and 6th and no Schlotzsky’s anywhere. I remembered right where it was when we got to the location and it wasn’t there. Stupid Google Maps. So, to get out of the pouring rain we jumped into a restaurant called Louie’s 106. What a great find that was. The food was delicious and the wait staff was on the ball and really funny. I had the tomato basil soup and the crab cake served on potato, spinach, peppers and onion hash with lobster cioppino and roasted poblano bearnaise. Justin, Matt & John all loved their entrees too and said that the chicken tortilla soup was fabulous. Even the bread they served was delicious. Great place. Recommend it to anyone in Austin. I bet they do dinner well too.

Tortilla Soup, Louie’s 106, Austin, TX

Tomato Basil Soup, Louie’s 106, Austin, TX

Crab Cake, Louie’s 106, Austin, TX

After lunch I saw a few more panels - “Online Adulation: Use Don’t Abuse Your Fans,” which I really liked, and “Virtual Scandals and Sacrilege: Who’s grieFing Now?,” which I didn’t really like. The Online Adulation panel included Heather Armstrong, Tom Merritt, Christopher Smith and Casey McKinnon and was really informative and entertaining.

That night we swore we weren’t going to go out because we’d been out at parties with free booze for the last 3 nights in a row and that can get a little wearing. We headed to the SXSW Registrant’s Lounge to cash in a free drink coupon. It was sunny out then and it was nice to sit outside. After a while we decided to go somewhere else. We weren’t really sure where, but started walking and that’s when we saw it: Sushi. While we were walking down the sidewalk we saw a couple sitting outside at Finn & Porter eating sushi. We were all kind of full from lunch so sushi would be the perfect light dinner. We had a couple drinks at the bar and then had sushi for dinner. Justin had never really had sushi, but had tried things like tuna tartare and liked them, so he did just fine. He tried a few starter pieces and then ordered some monsterous-sized prawns. Sushi and Kirin and a shared dessert and then a port were a perfect last dinner in Austin. So much for not drinking on the last night!